"I didn't feel it," Al-Hassan told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) of his dislocated elbow following his UFC debut in December 2008. "When the referee stopped it, I was bewildered. I was thinking, 'OK, why are you stopping the fight?'"

The referee, in fact, noticed what pretty much everyone else watching the fight against Steve Cantwell did. Al-Hassan, caught in an armbar, was going to suffer a significant arm injury, but he was refusing to tap out.

The first-round injury has made him into a notable UFC character. Some, he said, criticize him for not tapping out even though an injury was imminent. Others have slapped him on the back and praised him for his toughness in declining to quit.